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South Africa's anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu dies at 90
Updated 16:36, 26-Dec-2021
CGTN
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu waves to people after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in Cape Town, South Africa, on May 17, 2021. /Xinhua

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu waves to people after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in Cape Town, South Africa, on May 17, 2021. /Xinhua

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and veteran of South Africa's struggle against white minority rule, has passed away in Cape Town at the age of 90, the presidency said on Sunday.

"The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation's farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa," President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement. 

In 1984, Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent opposition to apartheid. A decade later, he witnessed the ends of that regime and he chaired a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up to unearth atrocities committed during those dark days. 

Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the late 1990s and in recent years he was hospitalized on several occasions to treat infections associated with his cancer treatment. 

He made a rare public appearance in May 2021 to receive his vaccine for COVID-19. He appeared outside of hospital in a wheelchair, and waved but did not speak. 

He married his wife Leah in 1955. They had four children. 

Source(s): Reuters ,AFP

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